Why so much noise around a handful of measles cases in Quebec? The answer can be found in the graph opposite: because the virus is the king of contagion.
Imagine: on average, one person infected with measles can infect 15 others (this is called R0, or virus reproduction rate). These 15 patients will in turn infect 15 others, and so on. This is the definition of an exponential curve. Mathieu Maheu-Giroux, an epidemiologist from McGill University who helped me (greatly!) to draw the curves, specifies that this theoretical scenario occurs in a population where no one is vaccinated, which is obviously not the case in Quebec.
The graph, however, shows which enemy we are dealing with. The virus is all the more formidable because it can cause serious complications and, unlike COVID-19, it particularly affects babies. “For measles, what usually contributes to the speed of spread is not only the R0, but also the fact that children are at school with a lot of contact,” explains Benoît Mâsse, professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Montreal. Fortunately, while measles is a particularly dangerous virus, we have an almost infallible shield against it. The vaccine is much more effective than all those against COVID-19, providing 95% protection, for life, with two doses. All you have to do is take it!
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